


Team M: have a feelings jam about boundaries

by rarmaster



Series: don't you worry child [7]
Category: Homestuck, Kingdom Hearts, Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types, Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Gen, IT'S MY FAVORITE KIND OF FIC TO WRITE TBH, WINDING FEELINGS JAM NO PLOT JUST CHARACTERS CHATTING, dave gets some focus too, despite the desc also this is written from replikus pov, kratos + repliku interaction focused a little, lmao i should have said that up front maybe?, shadow's just here chilling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2020-10-13 03:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20575424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: Kratos decides to bring up his own boundaries, and is rather grateful, seeing that two of the other three members of this group hate being touched as much as he does.DYWC





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> housekeeping: Kratos is from YWKON, a XC2 AU, meaning he's a blade and has wildly different opinions re: being touched unexpectedly than vanilla ToS Kratos does! 
> 
> Riku is Repliku from my FtPverse!! The short of FtPverse lore is Repliku gets dropped in a parallel universe so no one he's talking about is the KH canon counterparts. Also, Aerith adopted him. 
> 
> Let's go.

They stop for the night on a peaceful little hill of some world none of them recognize, the grass green and soft and sprawling before it gives way to a forest below and a lake in the distance, sunset painting the clouds overhead with orange and the sky with purple. Riku watches it contently, not sure what kind of topic to bring up with his companions, not really interested enough to make the effort towards small talk right now. The weather’s warm, the breeze pleasant, so they don’t bother with a fire for the night, which is good because frankly Riku has no idea how to make one safely _at all, _let alone with this much grass around. He’s not sure if he really intends to sleep or not, either—maybe he should, while he has the chance, since even though he needs it less than humans he still needs _some _of it. All of his companions—dubiously human at best, in Dave’s case, he’s “not really sure since the godtier thing happened”, in his own words—don’t appear to need much sleep either, but. It gets tiring, traveling all day. Even if they don’t need to sleep, they do need to _rest._

So Riku watches the sunset, plays with the grass between his fingers, idly wonders what kind of wildlife is lurking in those trees. He supposes if he cares he can ask Shadow when Shadow gets back, because the moment they stopped Shadow took off running—er, skating?—at a speed none of them could hope to keep up with, probably to work out some restless energy he must have been building up if _that’s _his normal speed and not what they’ve been walking at all day. Dave lays sprawled in the grass behind Riku; sprawled so much so that Riku sees more of the way the grass indents around him than he sees Dave himself. Kratos isn’t too far to Riku’s left, also enjoying the view, or maybe lost in thought, Riku doesn’t know and only cares enough to idly wonder about. (_It’s not that he has no interest in all—he just doesn’t care enough to step all over Kratos’ privacy, especially since he’s only known the guy a day._)

The sun sinks behind the mountains below the lake, and though the clouds above remain painted with its light, the lake and the hills they’re sitting on slowly succumb to night’s shadow. In a blur of gold either generated by his skates or just how _fast _he’s going, Shadow skids up the hill and hesitates once he’s at a stop somewhere on the other side of Dave from Riku. Riku watches, curious, as Shadow probably decides something like it’d be silly to stand around while everyone else is sitting, and with the forced-casual nature of a cat who changed its mind suddenly, plops himself amongst the grass. It’s not tall enough to completely obscure him from view, at least.

Riku spins himself around to face the majority of their group, just so he can better judge whether or not he thinks Shadow’s good for conversation right now or not. He wants to ask about the things Shadow saw, how far he went, because he’s curious but _maybe _that’s rude and _maybe _everyone just wants to chill in silence and only exist in proximity with each other without interacting after the day today has been—not bad, exactly, but Riku’s quite certain that _suddenly traveling through strange worlds with complete strangers _wasn’t on the list of things _anyone _wanted to do today.

(_It was book club day today. He was really excited to talk about the next chapter with Namine and Kairi, because it’s his favorite book, and Sora’d hinted that just maaaaybe he’d drag Kano over later and they could sit around and play video games. Aerith was making chicken tonight. Yuffie still hadn’t found the latest thing he’d hidden in their constant game of hide and technically-not-steal, and he was waiting for her to figure out that he’d put it under the _couch, _because it’s obvious but too obvious and she’d be so mad but it’s all fun and. And._

_Well it’s not like he won’t get home eventually, he knows. He just hopes his friends and family aren’t too worried about him. He can’t even call them to tell them he’s alright, which he’s kind of nervous about seeing as he’s pulled probably one too many disappearing stunts in the past and what if they assume the _worst—

_Anyway_.)

Before Riku can decide whether or not to say anything to Shadow, Kratos clears his throat. He’s turned around to face the rest of them as well.

“Now that we’re all here,” he says, hedging his words much like Namine does most of the time, or like Kano does when he’s hit the _oh fuck I’ve never had to have a discussion aloud about This in particular before, how do you normal human interaction _point of a conversation. “There’s… something I wanted to discuss, if that is alright.” He hesitates, and then must decide that whatever else he wants to say can’t wait, because he doesn’t give anyone enough time to answer he tacks on: “If we’re going to be traveling together, it just seems prudent to bring it up.”

Somewhat worrying, but alright. “What’s up?” Riku asks.

“Just lay it right the fuck on us, dude,” Dave adds, and Shadow grunts in what Riku guesses is affirmation.

Kratos hesitates a second more, fiddling with his fingers. His face is illuminated by the red crystal that’s sitting in his chest, and the circles of red traced into his bare shoulders glow a little as well—much more faintly. Riku realizes belatedly that even though _his _eyesight’s fine in the dark, he has no idea about his companions. And without a fire…

While Kratos is searching for his words, Riku pulls at the magic within him to form a small ball of light—nothing on level with what Kairi can make, but he’s been practicing!—and directs it to hover in the air above the four of them.

“Oh,” Kratos says, somewhat surprised.

“Shit, that’s nifty,” Dave affirms. “Oh god why did I stare directly at it—” And his hands fly up to cover his face, elbows sticking up in the air above the grass, still sprawled on the ground as he is.

Riku laughs despite himself. “Yeah maybe don’t do that, even while wearing those shades—can you even _see _in the dark with those things on??”

“Look what I decide to do or not do with my sense of fashion and cool shades is none of your business so leave me alone, alright,” Dave spits out rapidly, but he doesn’t sound like he’s mad, just like he’s half-heartedly pretending to be for show, or for the joke of it. Riku’s even getting used to the rapid way he speaks, every word given in one straight breath. (_Not much different than Joseph speaks half the time, though Joseph’s is usually painted in exuberant excitement_.) “What was it you wanted to talk about, K-dude? Didn’t mean to derail you.”

“It’s just… It’s not a very big thing…” Kratos hedges, carefully, still playing with his fingers rather than looking at his companions. “But, again, since we will be traveling together for what appears to be a while, I suppose it’s bound to come up. So…”

He swallows, in the silence. Everyone waits for him to speak.

“So, just so it’s… on the table. I’d prefer if no one touched me unless I have given my express consent on the matter.”

Kratos exhales, like saying that took more out of him than he would’ve liked it to.

“A’ight,” Dave says, and nothing else.

“That’s fine,” Shadow says, not a beat later.

“Yeah, yeah,” Riku agrees, though he feels a little winded. He kind of wants to ask—_why, _but also knows if that it’s anything like his reason for hating being touched then Kratos sure as hell isn’t going to want to talk about it. He can put the pieces together well enough. And they sure offer him a new light on how he views Kratos. “Definitely no big deal at all.”

“It’s not—I’m not against being touched, just so we’re clear,” Kratos says. “Just… Ask me first.”

He’s still fidgeting like this is incredibly uncomfortable for him to say, which Riku feels bad about, because… This is _important, _actually, he realizes. He kind of wishes he’d thought of bringing it up himself, but it hadn’t occurred to him until just now that you could just _tell people you don’t like being touched _from the get go instead of hoping they don’t and only bringing it up when they do.

But, uh, since Kratos brought it up, maybe he should…

“Actually,” Riku says, clearing his throat and—now he understands why Kratos was having so much difficulty. The words feel lodged in the back of his mouth, even though that’s silly. “While we’re, uh, on the subject I guess. Um. I guess I’d prefer if…? Well so long as no one sneaks up on me. I’m usually okay as long as I’m expecting it. Being touched, I mean.” He thinks he’s rambling, at this point, but keeps going anyway. “If it’s sudden and I didn’t see it coming that’s—bad. Usually. Sometimes.”

It hasn’t given him a panic attack in months, now, unless someone is also suddenly _grabbing him _or _hurting him_. Still. Saying he doesn’t like being suddenly touched should circumvent both of those things. He kind of doubts anyone here wants to _hurt _him, anyway.

Kratos nods, slow and understanding, his expression gentle, if still a bit stony. He’s like Leon, in that way. “I’ll make a habit of asking first,” he promises, and Riku feels kind of ridiculous that that makes him feels as relieved as it does. It’s a big deal but it’s not—he didn’t think it was _that _big of a deal.

“Yeah gotcha, everyone in this party hates being touched, glad we got that all squared away,” Dave says, all in one string again. Riku’d wonder if Dave ever _breathed _if he couldn’t hear Dave doing that _after _he was done speaking. By this point Dave’s arms have returned to—somewhere at Dave’s sides, hidden in the grass so Riku can’t see, he just knows they’re definitely not covering his face anymore.

“It’s important,” Kratos insists.

Just as: “I said nothing about hating being touched,” Shadow argues.

“Well,” Dave says, and the nothing else.

Riku’s eyes dart over to Kratos, to see what he thinks of that, because to Riku that sounds like _Dave _minds but is embarrassed about it. Riku is trying to figure out how to ask, or tell Dave that like, not wanting to be touched unexpectedly is a totally reasonable thing but Kratos beats him to it.

“Dave,” Kratos says, gentle but with the weight of importance in his tone. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you because I was unaware of what your boundaries are. If you don’t like being touched—”

“It’s not about being touched, that’s totally fine,” Dave insists, and he doesn’t move in the grass at all, his voice just floats up from where he’s lying. (_Even if he could see Dave’s face, Riku assumes it’d be rather unreadable. Maybe that’s what the sunglasses are for._) “It’s just? I dunno. I guess I just—I mean I was raised pretty much since birth to like be constantly vigilante and shit, constantly expecting sneak attacks so like. Fuck I probably shouldn’t have. Said. Well anyway don’t think about that just know that like—if you sneak up on me I may or may not cut your arm off because precisely honed reflexes are like a dog and once you train them they don’t _stop _being trained regardless of how much shouting my brain does _soooooooo _maybe just don’t sneak up on me or startle me if you can avoid it.”

That’s… a lot to take in.

But Dave’s made it clear enough that he absolutely does not want to be pressed on this at all, so in the silence filled only by Dave’s deep inhale as he returns all his air to his lungs Riku files away all that information to worry about later, or maybe not at all. If Dave doesn’t want to talk about it… Dave doesn’t want to talk about it. Riku’s not really in a hurry to talk about Larxene, either. In fact, if he can avoid even mentioning her, that’d be fantastic.

“Noted,” Kratos says.

“Shadow?” Riku asks, to get the attention off of Dave. He definitely hears Dave breathe a sigh of relief and a quiet little _thank fucking god._

Shadow bristles at all of the attention on him, but manages to shrug slow and casual like this doesn’t even matter a little bit to him. “I don’t mind being touched,” he says. “But maybe you shouldn’t sneak up on me, either.”

He doesn’t elaborate, but he doesn’t need to.

Kratos inhales like he’s going to speak, and then says: “I suppose that boils down to none of us want to be snuck up on, and that Riku and I would prefer to be asked before being touched.” He nods to himself, looking—satisfied, a little more at ease. Riku hadn’t realized how much tension had been in Kratos’ shoulders until there basically wasn’t, anymore. “Thank you all for humoring me.”

“It’s fine,” Shadow says.

“Yeah it’s, you know, important,” Riku agrees, with a nod, and dealing with a sudden blooming fondness in his chest that he isn’t sure what to do with, _except_—“Actually I kind of appreciate it?? Talking about it is way smarter than my idea of just hoping it never came up.” He laughs, nervous, to dissipate some of the tension and distract from _just how stupid _that idea was, in hindsight.

Kratos chuckles a little as well, but it isn’t unkind. Riku appreciates that, too. “I’ve learned,” Kratos says, “that if you are spending more than a few passing hours with someone, it will always come up. And I’ve had plenty of bad encounters due to _not _mentioning my own boundaries up front, so I’d hoped to circumvent that this time around. I’m glad I did.”

Riku can’t help but smile, still incredibly fond and… _comfortable, _in a way he isn’t sure how to describe but reminds him of Aerith’s gentleness and concern and a little bit of how much he misses her. He should say—something, but he isn’t sure what, and…

“So like are we planning on sleeping tonight or we all just gonna wing it and chat until we’re ready to move again, because I dunno about you guys but I think I actually need to get some sleep,” Dave says. And then, as an afterthought: “Though I mean I guess if you all want to chat your bad mistakes aren’t _my _problem, so I’m just gonna turn on some music and hit the fucking hay.” He reaches up and from thin air produces a pair of headphones, thanks to that weird way of storing things just _outside the timespace continuum _that he has and Riku is frankly jealous of.

“Goodnight,” Riku says, politely and out of habit. Dave doesn’t respond.

“I… should probably sleep as well,” Kratos says, after a moment. “I would survive if I didn’t, but it seems silly to pass up the opportunity. Unless there was something you wanted to say?” He looks at Riku expectantly.

Riku shakes his head. “Nah. I mean. I guess I just wanna say even though this kind of sucks and I really want to go home soon—I think.” No, just saying _I’m going to enjoy traveling with you _doesn’t feel like enough. So. “I’m glad I got to meet you, Kratos.”

Kratos laughs, lightly. “Me too,” he says, and maybe he’s just being polite, but it makes Riku warm nonetheless.

He expected to have trouble falling asleep that night. He doesn’t.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku brings up something he probably should've brought up the night before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me and riku both tripped over ourselves as we realized we forgot about this entirely so here's a remedy for that. reminder that riku is from ftpverse which means he's actually repliku okay good day

“Actually, hey, before we get going, I have a question,” Riku says the next morning, as he and his companions finish striking their meager camp, which isn’t really much of a camp at all. It’d occurred to him sometime in the early morning—he’d woken up long before anyone else, but seeing as he only actually needs three or four hours of sleep to make it through a day, he’s pretty used to doing that—reflecting on the conversation they’d had last night, about boundaries, and there was… one thing that Riku realized he should bring up, actually.

“Hit me Britney,” Dave says, which sounds like a reference to something, but it’s not anything Riku knows, so alright. Kratos turns his attention obviously, politely towards Riku in silent invitation for him to continue, and… Shadow’s still standing there even if he doesn’t look like he’s paying attention, which Riku’s learned is kind of the best he’s going to get from Shadow.

So, Riku continues.

“Do any of you know… elemental magic?” he asks.

Kratos scowls like this makes sense but maybe he doesn’t have enough context. Shadow just scowls. Dave immediately laughs and shakes his head.

“Dude I don’t know _any _magic,” he says, his grin bright. “Now if you were dealing with my sister, that’d be another story, but—”

“What do you mean by magic?” Kratos asks, and Riku breathes a subtle sigh of relief. Sure, he probably shouldn’t be that relieved yet, because maybe they just have different names for it on Kratos’ world, but…

“I mean, like,” Riku says, and failing a coherent explanation that would be faster than simply showing his companions, he summons a small ball of fire to his hands. “Like this, you know? And I can do it with any element, like light,” he banishes the fire and summons a small ball of light, like he did the night before, “or ice,” light is replaced with a few snow crystals that Riku doesn’t even have to dismiss for how fast they melt. “Or, like, other stuff, but…”

He trails off, waiting to see how that lands. If Dave cares or is surprised he’s not showing it behind those shades. Shadow’s eyebrows quirk upwards, though, like maybe he thinks this is intriguing? Kratos’ face, meanwhile, is awash with understanding, and he slowly nods. The look he sends Riku is… kind of awed? Weird.

“Where I come from,” Kratos explains, slowly. “Blades are aligned to one element, and one element only.”

At this, Riku’s chest clenches, just a little. He rubs his thumbs nervously over the pads of his fingers, restless energy he needs to dispel imperceptibly. “What element are you?” he asks. There is one potential, very bad answer to this. Riku tries to reassure himself that the odds are good it isn’t that answer.

“Light,” Kratos says, and stops. And then after a second of hesitation, he repeats the action Riku did earlier—summoning a small ball of light that hovers above his open palm. It flickers after a second, dissipates, and Kratos scowls, but Riku breathes easy and relieved. “The ether here is strange,” Kratos explains, sighing. “And I’m certainly not… not as skilled as other blades, not anymore.”

Riku is too busy feeling relieved to really give more than an idle thought to that, let alone reply properly. Two down, one person to ask. He turns to Shadow. “What about you?” he asks.

Shadow shrugs, slow. “I can do this,” he says, and summons energy to his hand. With a flick he sends the energy—solidified into a small spear—Riku’s direction. It strikes the ground next to Riku, far enough away that it’s clear he wasn’t intending harm. “I wouldn’t touch it,” he warns, as Riku makes to do so.

Riku does anyway (_he can’t help it, he’s curious, he has to know _now _and not later_)—and, it _hurts, _of course, sends a jarring jolt through his body and leaving his fingertips somewhat numb. And, okay, getting hit by that _might _be problematic (_for a vast number of reasons_) but it feels more like darkness than it really feels like lightning, a chattering of something hungry and eager to chew him up under his veins. But it’s _not _darkness, either. It’s something else entirely.

“What is that?” he asks Shadow, casting a quick Cure for his poor hand.

Shadow rolls his eyes, like he absolutely cannot believe Riku actually touched it.

“Pure chaos,” Shadow answers, unamused.

Riku nods, relieved if confused. Since when was _chaos_ an element??

(_But he thinks it’ll be okay, really. It doesn’t sound, smell, or feel like lightning does, so just being around Shadow tossing it around shouldn’t trigger a panic attack. Getting _hit _by it might, but he trusts Shadow to be careful about friendly fire…_)

Before he can really finish fussing out all those thoughts, Dave is speaking:

“I mean if we’re showing off right now I guess I can add that I can time travel but I fucking hate doing it and that’s not really magic like Riku’s asking about anyway so it’s probably not even relevant,” Dave says in a rush, with a nervous little laugh pegged on at the end.

All eyes swing towards him.

“Time travel…?” Kratos repeats, like he can’t believe it.

“Yeah, sure, Knight of Time, all that bullshit that doesn’t make sense unless you’ve heard of Sburb probably,” Dave answers. “No I’m not demonstrating though it’s not something you should really fuck around w—GOD DAMMIT.”

“Yo,” says the second Dave that has just manifested from thin air. Or… from time travel? Riku guesses? Riku still gapes, regardless.

“Man fuck you!” the first Dave whines, dragging his hands down his face.

Second Dave shrugs, hands in his pockets. His posture doesn’t _look _smug, though, just resigned. “You and me both know we were curious to see if it’d even work in wherever-the-fuck-we-are-now so of course we tried.”

First Dave finishes dragging his hands down his face. “When do I have to do go like right now.”

“Yeah like right now.”

“Man I fucking hate this.”

“Sorry dude.”

Firs Dave vanishes, presumably to… what? Back in the past?? Riku thinks about that endless cycle of Daves being sent into the past by their future selves and then his head hurts so he stops thinking about it.

“You weren’t kidding,” Shadow says. He sounds… impressed?

“I mean it’s really not fun and games though,” Second Dave—or, just Dave, Riku guesses, because he doubts the other one’s coming back. Anyway Dave says that, and continues in that breathless, rushing way of his: “I gotta keep the timeloops fucking locked down, stable as shit, or else people just start dying and I’m really sick of people dying that’s why I stopped time traveling but if a future Dave shows up and tells me I gotta then I gotta because if I say no then we die and it sucks.”

And before Riku can really process any of that:

“ANYWAY,” Dave says. “Why were you asking man anyway,” he asks, looking to Riku. “What’s got you suddenly so interested in magic and shit I mean I guess it’s a fair thing to be curious but you didn’t sound casual at all my dude.” There’s just a beat, barely a beat, where he breathes, and then: “Sorry was that too forward? Guess I’d hate if some dude I just met started reading me like the fucking newspaper so if you don’t wanna talk about it then just don’t talk about it I guess.”

It’s really, literally impossible to gain any kind of footing after that. Riku takes a second to try and find it, scrambling mentally. It’s… not actually a problem, then, but maybe he should say something in case there’s… monsters or something? In wherever the hell they are? Better safe than sorry… but…

“Well I mean it’s not going to come up, I think,” Riku begins, hedging away from having to answer.

“…in case it does?” Kratos presses, and it’s gentle, but there’s a weight in it that’s exactly the same as the weight he regarded them all with last night, and, okay, okay. Maybe Riku should elaborate.

“Well,” Riku says, and then swallows. The words form fine in his brain but don’t quite want to reach his tongue. “I mean, none of you can do lightning elemental attacks, so like it’s. It’s fine,” he says.

He tries not to think about the lead in his stomach. Tries not to think about—well, any of the reasons _why _for this, tries not to think about. About _her _at all.

“I uh.”

Grass gripped tightly in his fingers, Riku makes himself speak.

“I can’t. Handle.”

No one’s interjecting, at least, just waiting for him to get the words together, and that’s fine? But the weight of their gazes on Riku is almost more than he can take.

“It’s just being around any kind of electricity is bad. Especially in large amounts.”

Grass gripped tighter. Eyes fixed on the sky. It’s such a pretty shade of blue, in the morning’s light.

“So you can imagine when it’s geared towards. Like. Battle magic? That’s. _Really _bad.”

You’re in the present, Riku. You’re here, you’re safe, and _she’s dead._

“So I guess I was just gonna ask y’all to not use any if you knew any but you don’t know any so like.”

He swallows, once. Smiles, nervous.

“It’s fine.”

He’s feeling a little light-headed, now, and no one’s _saying anything _which is still… not the best. But. Well it doesn’t matter, it’s out, and he doesn’t have to say any more and he doesn’t have to think about it anymore. And they all seem to have enough common sense to not ask any _more _questions than that which is _good. _He’s just going to spiral further if they do and he already hates how sick he feels right now, having said only the bare minimum.

But they don’t, and—

“Okay can we talk about something else, now?” Riku asks.

“We should probably figure out where we are,” Shadow says. “I saw remnants of a civilization last night, over there.” He points down the hills. “We can head that way. See if we can find clues.”

“Sure,” Dave says, with a shrug. He seems almost eager to be away from this conversation. Riku feels bad.

He pushes himself to his feet, and Dave and Shadow start heading down the hill.

Kratos catches Riku’s eyes before Riku can follow.

“Thank you for telling us,” Kratos says, soft. “That was very brave.”

If Riku had any hope that his gut would start feeling better, it’s gone now, because at Kratos’ words it deftly turns itself inside-out. Riku laughs, breathy and short and nervous.

“I feel gross,” he says, honestly, because that’s the only thing he can make his mind articulate.

Kratos laughs, fond and understanding. “Yes, it’s like that,” he says. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“Give me something else to think about?” Riku says. He starts walking—one part distraction, one part so Dave and Shadow don’t leave them behind, because left by themselves they move much faster than he or Kratos can reasonably keep up with. (_Why can Dave fly, anyway? That’s so unfair._)

“Well, if you have any questions about my world…” Kratos offers, as he falls in step beside Riku.

Okay, sure, he can work with that. “Are blades really locked to one element? And it’s just blades who can do magic?” he asks, to start with.

“Yes, and yes,” Kratos answers.

And Riku asks him to elaborate and they go on like that until Riku forgets about being nauseous entirely.


End file.
